Hezbollah fires rocket at spy base, Israeli warplanes hit Lebanon again. Hezbollah said its fighters had fired a rocket targeting the Mossad spy agency headquarters near Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Israel unleashed more airstrikes on southern Lebanon in the heaviest bout of warfare between the arch-foes in a year.
The Israeli military said a single surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by air defence systems after it was detected crossing from Lebanon.
Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, Israel’s economic capital, but there were no reports of damage or casualties.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said he could not confirm what Hezbollah’s target was when it fired the missile from a village in Lebanon.
“The result was a heavy missile, going towards Tel Aviv, towards civilian areas in Tel Aviv. The Mossad headquarters is not in that area,” he said.
Warning sirens also sounded in other areas of central Israel, including the city of Netanya.
The Israeli military has been carrying out its heaviest airstrikes in a year of conflict this week, targeting leaders of the Iran-backed Hezbollah and hitting hundreds of sites deep inside Lebanon.
The hostilities started after war broke out last October between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Israel’s southern border, with Hezbollah saying it was acting in solidarity with its ally Hamas.
Israel’s focus has now turned to its northern frontier and southern Lebanon, already the scene of near-daily exchanges of fire for months.
There was no let up on Wednesday. Israel said its warplanes were currently carrying out extensive strikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of missiles and rockets at Israel in recent days.
CASUALTY TOLL RISES
Hezbollah has blamed Mossad for the recent assassination of its leaders.
It has also accused the spy agency of carrying out an extraordinary operation last week in which the communications devices of its members were booby-trapped and exploded, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000 in the worst security breach in its history.
Half a million people are estimated to have been displaced in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said. In Beirut, thousands of people who fled from southern Lebanon were sheltering in schools and other buildings.
Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military said a drone crossing into Israeli territory from Syria was intercepted by fighter jets south of the Sea of Galilee.
Israel brutality mounts as over 600 Lebanese die from airstrike
In escalating violence as Israel ramps up its brutal assault on its neighbours, the occupying forces launched a relentless series of missile attacks on Lebanon.
The airstrikes resulted in the deaths of over 570 people with more than 1,800 injured among the civilian population.
The situation has rapidity deteriorated, lading to huge loss of life and significant humanitarian crisis.
A recent assault in Beirut claimed the life of Ibrahim Qubaisi, a key Hezbollah commander. This has exacerbated tensions in the Middle East even further.
In the wake of the attacks, hundreds of Lebanese citizens have sought refuge and safety in Syria, fleeing the ongoing brutal bombardments by Israel.
To protect students and staff, educational intuitions throughout Lebanon have been closed for a week as a precautionary measure. The conflict has also affected journalists, with reports confirming that a reporter was injured during a live broadcast amid the missile strikes.
In retaliation, Hezbollah fired over 300 rockets into Israeli territory, stating that it has successfully targeted various military sites.
An Iraqi resistant group also launched attacks in the Golan Heights.
The escalating violence prompted both, the United States and China to urge their citizens to leave Lebanon, while numerous airlines have halted their flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut due to safety concerns.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) indicated that their operations against Hezbollah are intended to be ‘brief’. However, Israeli military officials warned that the conflict may extend beyond initial ‘expectations’.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza have claimed the lives of over 41,000 Palestinians since last October, among them 15,000 children.
Similarly, it ramped up attacks in Lebanon last week, first by exploding pagers carried by Hezbollah fighters, though Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the attacks.
The occupying forces then started a series of relentless strikes on its neighbour that has left over 600 Lebanese dead.
Norway begins probe into exploding pagers in Lebanon
Norway’s security police (PST) have begun a preliminary investigation into reports that a Norwegian-owned company was linked to the sale of pagers to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that exploded last week, a police lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday.
Over a two-day period last week, thousands of pagers, as well as walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives, blew up in Lebanon, killing at least 39 people and wounding thousands. The attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
It is not clear how and when the pagers were weaponised so they could be remotely detonated. Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria are already investigating possible links in the supply chain.
“PST has initiated a preliminary investigation to determine whether there are reasons for starting a (full) investigation on the basis of allegations in the media that a Norwegian-owned company may have been involved in the dissemination of pagers to Hezbollah,” PST lawyer Haris Hrenovica said in a text message to media.
Earlier he told Norwegian news agency NTB that the police had no specific suspicions at this time.
Bulgarian authorities said last week they were investigating Sofia-based company Norta Global Ltd after a Hungarian media report that it was involved in facilitating the sale of the pagers.
The company was founded in 2022 by Norwegian citizen, Rinson Jose, 39, according to Bulgaria’s corporate registry. He signed the company’s articles of association at the Bulgarian consulate in Oslo, the documents reviewed by media showed.
Jose declined to comment on the pagers when reached by phone last Wednesday and hung up when asked about the Bulgarian business. He did not return repeated calls and text messages.
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